Iran Insight

Iran is seeking new investment for the Makran coast along the Gulf of Oman to boost development in one of the country’s most deprived regions, fight drug trafficking and expand its naval presence beyond the Persian Gulf.

Since a landmark nuclear deal went into effect January 16, Iranians are increasingly frustrated that while they have fulfilled their part of the bargain, they have yet to see significant economic benefits.

The results of this year’s runoff elections for seats in Iran’s tenth parliament have broken two records. The new parliament -- which will officially begin work on May 28 -- will host the largest number of women and the least number of clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

It sounds like something from the Middle Ages but it’s the latest method for drug traffickers along the Iran-Afghanistan border.

The commander of Sistan and Baluchestan’s border guard, Raham Bakhsh Habibi, says that drug traffickers are smuggling drugs into Iran by using a catapult made of special metal fixtures and tire tubes that can toss packages weighing 10 kilograms up to 2 kilometers into Iranian territory.

During his recent visit to Washington, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon remarkedthat a “Shiite radical axis” headed by Iran “is exploiting the deal now to gain hegemony” in the region. This has, in fact, become a rallying cry for those countries in the MENA region that are irked by the nuclear deal reached in July 2015 between Iran and the 6-plus-1 world powers and put into effect in January 2016.
Read More

With the successful conclusion of the nuclear accord between the United States, other major world powers and Iran, it is worth exploring other areas in which dialogue between the two adversaries can help realize mutual interests and relax ongoing tensions.